With Bryant Johnson a free agent and Isaac Bruce possibly retiring, the San Francisco 49ers took steps to shore up the receiver position on Saturday by signing free-agent Brandon Jones, according to Alex Marvez of FOXSports.com.

Jones, a former Titan, has agreed to a five-year, $16.5 million deal, with $5.4 million in guaranteed money.

Sources close to the situation have informed me that the New Orleans Saints are “looking closely” at San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson. The Saints would have a “high level of interest” if the Chargers were unable to come to terms on a new deal with Tomlinson.

Tomlinson has spent all eight years of his NFL career in San Diego. He rushed for 1,110 yards and racked up 12 total touchdowns in 2008. Last season was the lowest yardage output of his career.

The St. Louis Rams have placed wide receiver Torry Holt and offensive tackle Orlando Pace on the trading block, league sources told Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Although Rams General Manager Billy Devaney has acknowledged that the team has enough room under the salary cap to sign cornerback Ronald Bartell and safety James Butler after signing center Jason Brown to a five-year, $37.5 million deal, the Rams could certainly use some more breathing room.

Per Thomas, cutting or trading Pace and Holt would create $14 million in salary-cap space.

The Rams have been quiet on the outlook for Holt and Pace with Devaney indicating Friday that he didn’t know what would happen with the two veteran standouts. However, league sources said the team might even be willing to unload them for lower-round draft picks.

The St. Louis Rams have placed wide receiver Torry Holt and offensive tackle Orlando Pace on the trading block, league sources told Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Although Rams General Manager Billy Devaney has acknowledged that the team has enough room under the salary cap to sign cornerback Ronald Bartell and safety James Butler after signing center Jason Brown to a five-year, $37.5 million deal, the Rams could certainly use some more breathing room.

Per Thomas, cutting or trading Pace and Holt would create $14 million in salary-cap space.

The Rams have been quiet on the outlook for Holt and Pace with Devaney indicating Friday that he didnít know what would happen with the two veteran standouts. However, league sources said the team might even be willing to unload them for lower-round draft picks.

League insiders had been speculating on whether the former defensive coordinator of the Cardinals (Clancy Pendergast) or the former defensive coordinator of the Saints (Gary Gibbs) will ultimately be named the next defensive coordinator of the Chiefs.

The answer very well could be, “Neither.”

Tony Grossi of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported over the weekend that the job could go to former Browns coach Romeo Crennel.

Crennel, who recently has hip-replacement surgery, previously turned down a chance to join Charlie Weis’ staff at Notre Dame.

One potential source of reluctance is that Weis would essentially be working for free at South Bend or Kansas City, since his buyout from the Browns would be reduced by any money he earns in either city.

The Cincinnati Bengals have announced that running back Cedric Benson has re-signed with the team.

Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that it’s a two-year, $7 million deal.

“Cedric was a great addition for us last year,” coach Marvin Lewis said. “And we’re looking to see him pick up right where he left off.”

The Bears picked Benson with the fourth overall selection in the 2005 draft. But they cut him after two arrests in less than a month last year.

He found no takers, and the Bengals eventually gave him a shot.

Though his per-carry average was in the realm of Reggie Bush, Benson came on as the year unfolded, moving the chains even without much of a passing game.

“Cedric was recognized as an elite talent coming out of college,” Lewis said. “His years in Chicago weren’t what he hoped for, but he was able to give us a lift on the field and be a great presence in the locker room. He earned everyone’s respect, and we’re excited to let him continue to grow in our system.”

Derrick Ward visited the Bengals in the early days of free agency, but we’d heard that Benson was their top priority. Apparently, a free-agent trip to Houston by Benson prompted the Bengals to get it done.

Veteran free-agent DT Grady Jackson is headed to Detroit on Tuesday afternoon, and if he passes a physical Wednesday, he’s expected to sign a two- or three-year contract with the Lions, a source close to the situation said.

Lest anyone think that our position regarding free-agent quarterback Kurt Warner arises from some sort of homerish tendencies toward the team with a red parakeet on its helmet, think again.

We’ve been saying for weeks that the Cardinals’ blind-squirrel-on-acorn trip to the Super Bowl doesn’t make a bad organization into a good one.

And, yeah, the Cardinals are still a bad organization.

Multiple league sources tell us that assistant coaches who left the team after the season ended have been stiffed out of Super Bowl bonuses.

Though we’re not sure whether the individual employment contracts call for the payments or whether these are amounts that teams pay as a matter of policy or practice, the point is that these men didn’t get paid money arising from the Super Bowl appearance that was paid to guys who are still employed.

Frugality is not a new dynamic in the desert. As former Cardinals safety Robert Griffith told Michael Silver, then of SI.com, in 2007, “They’re all show. They’re a facade. They say, ‘We’ve got the nicest stadium in North America’ — and they do. But everything else is to the penny.”

Griffith provided two examples to Silver. “When we’re not there on Tuesdays,” Griffith said, “they put a lock on the Gatorade fridge in the locker room.”

The other example came from what was in Griffith’s signing bonus check. Or, more accurately, what wasn’t in it.

“The Fed Ex [to send him the contract] cost $14.11 or something, and when I got my check, they’d deducted it — the check was for like $499,985.89, or whatever. That’s how they do sh-t in Arizona. That’s how they run their business!”

Our advice to Cardinals fans? Enjoy the climate-controlled temperature of the stadium and the video screens and the sound system and whatever food they sell there, because if you show up on Sundays suddenly expecting to see a winning team, you’re going to be disappointed.

Even before they acquired Jabar Gaffney and signed David Anderson to an offer sheet, and before they knew Brandon Marshall would get into trouble, the Broncos decided to bring back veteran slot receiver Brandon Stokley.

Stokley's return was ensured Feb. 27, in the hours before the opening of NFL free agency, when the Broncos and Stokley agreed to roll his $500,000 unguaranteed roster bonus into his 2009 salary. Then they agreed to guarantee $560,000 of his $1.41 million salary for this season. So Stokley is back, despite the crowd at receiver.

"When you bring a new coach in, you just never know," Stokley said. "I wasn't sure until I signed that new contract that I was going to be here for another year."

Most teams carry four or five receivers on their game-day, 45-man roster. The Broncos have four in Marshall, Eddie Royal, Gaffney and Stokley. Anderson would make it five if Houston doesn't match the three-year, $4.5 million offer he signed with the Broncos as a restricted free agent.

Even before they acquired Jabar Gaffney and signed David Anderson to an offer sheet, and before they knew Brandon Marshall would get into trouble, the Broncos decided to bring back veteran slot receiver Brandon Stokley.

Stokley's return was ensured Feb. 27, in the hours before the opening of NFL free agency, when the Broncos and Stokley agreed to roll his $500,000 unguaranteed roster bonus into his 2009 salary. Then they agreed to guarantee $560,000 of his $1.41 million salary for this season. So Stokley is back, despite the crowd at receiver.

"When you bring a new coach in, you just never know," Stokley said. "I wasn't sure until I signed that new contract that I was going to be here for another year."

Most teams carry four or five receivers on their game-day, 45-man roster. The Broncos have four in Marshall, Eddie Royal, Gaffney and Stokley. Anderson would make it five if Houston doesn't match the three-year, $4.5 million offer he signed with the Broncos as a restricted free agent.

Lord knows we don't need any more new threads, but this prolly deserves one, SSJ.

A day after losing wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, the Cincinnati Bengals replaced him by reaching an agreement in principle with former New York Jets wide receiver Laveranues Coles.

Coles agreed in principle to a four-year, $28 million deal, according to a source. Both sides still have to work on the language of the contract and the guarantees, but the money figures were acceptable to Coles.

A league source tells us that the Baltimore Ravens have agreed to terms with center Matt Birk.

Birk, a St. Paul native, had spent eleven years with the Vikings, arriving more than a decade ago as a sixth-round draft pick from Harvard, the same year that receiver Randy Moss joined the team as a rookie.

Birk was the last remaining link to the 1998 Vikings team, which won 15 regular-season games before losing the NFC title game to the Falcons.

By all appearances, he gave the Vikings every opportunity to sign him, but as the days passed and no deal was reached he decided to visit Baltimore.

Some thought it was a Kurt Warner-style leverage play, with Birk looking for an offer from Baltimore that he could shop back to the Vikings. (Birk apparently operates on a higher moral plane than that.)

That said, the decision had to be a tough one for Birk, who recently told David Fleming of ESPN The Magazine that he was anxious about uprooting his four small children and moving them halfway across the country.

And, as he told us three years ago, he wanted to stay in Minnesota: “I was born here, I’ll die here. I don’t want to leave.”

Realizing he no longer fits in the team’s plans, seven-time Pro Bowl wide receiver Torry Holt has asked for his release from the Rams, league sources told the Post-Dispatch on Wednesday.

The Rams have been shopping Holt, 32, on the trade market, but so far there have been no takers. Holt is due a $1.25 million roster bonus on March 17, so it’s unlikely he will be a Ram beyond then.

But with free-agent wide receivers being signed daily around the NFL, and hundreds of millions of dollars already spent six days into free agency, Holt is seeking some closure to his time in St. Louis.

Remember those reports that the Raiders were poised to cut receiver Javon Walker?

As it turns out, they were wr-wr-wr-wr-premature.

According to David White of the San Francisco Chronicle, Walker has agreed to a major restructuring of his contract, giving up a $5 million roster bonus that was due this week and reducing his base salaries dramatically.

In return, his new base salaries for 2009 and 2010 are fully guaranteed.

The move creates nearly $8 million in cap space for the Raiders.

His 2009 base salary have been cut from $4 million to $2 million, and his base salary for 2010 has been reduced from $6 million to 2.6 million next season.

Walked also agreed to reduce his base salary in 2011 from $8 million to $3.2 million. His 2012 base drops from $10 million to $3.8 million. And his 2013 base falls from $10 million to $4.4 million.

That is a lot of sprayed champagne.

But while it’s easy to focus on what Walker gave up, the reality is that, absent the restructuring, he would have gotten not another dime from the team. It’s also a sign that Walker didn’t feel all that strongly about a potential injury grievance aimed at collecting the $5 million injury-guaranteed roster bonus, to which he arguably would have been entitled since he finished the 2008 season on injured reserve.

Our guess is that Walker’s agent gauged the market, and determined that the offer that the Raiders put on the table was better than anything Walker would get from another team.

So, in some cases, tampering actually strengthens the relationship between the player and his current team.